Solid state cameras for laboratory use and article inspection are commercially available. CCD's are common in such cameras. CCD cameras also are used for x-ray imaging when the x-ray image is arranged to impinge a phosphor screen. The phosphor screen responds to the impinging image to produce a corresponding light image which can be captured by film or by a digitizing device such as a CCD.
Co-pending application Ser. No. 633212 filed Dec. 21, 1990 still pending assigned to the assignee of the present application describes one such system. The system, in one embodiment, employs a fiber optic bundle which has a relatively large first face and a relatively small second face. The first face is optically coupled to the phosphor screen and the second face is optically coupled to a CCD chip. Resolution requirements for radiology usage are such that fairly large CCD devices are necessary. Such devices are available at sizes of one centimeter (cm) square or two centimeters square, or larger, nothing being available commercially between one and two cms square. The two centimeter chips include 1024.times.1024 picture elements (pixels) and provide the requisite resolution.
When such large CCD chips are used with fiber optic bundles, some pixels may displace from the fiber bundle surface, resulting in a relatively lower spatial and contrast resolution than expected from the system. Further damage to the CCD may result if the fiber surface directly contacts the CCD surface. Particularly since the medical profession cannot tolerate imprecision in x-ray imaging, such a problem had to be resolved.